WITHOUT HOLINESS, NO MAN SHALL SEE GOD (4 OF 7)

Without Holiness, No Man Shall See God (4 of 7)
THE "WITHOUT" SERIES
Dennis Marquardt
Hebrews 12:14; I Peter 1:13-16; Titus 2:11-15

INTRO: In this day of "exciting worship teams, powerful preaching skills, great name speakers, TV ministries, mega Churches ministries, stirring music, creative programs, large crusades, and exciting revivals" -- there is one thing that gets little attention and little emphasis in the church, and in fact gets buried in all the "stuff:" HOLINESS!

ILLUS: A FORMER MISSIONARY IN INDIA ONCE TOLD OF NEEDING ASSISTANCE IN TRANSFERRING A CRITICALLY ILL MAN FROM HIS HOUSE TO THE LOCAL HOSPITAL. SHE REQUESTED HELP FROM TWO "HOLY MEN" WHO WERE SITTING NOT FAR AWAY AS THEY WERE INTONING THEIR DEVOTIONS TO GOD. SHE SAID SHE WOULD NEVER FORGET THE FIRE OF RESENTMENT THAT BLAZED UP IN THEIR EYES AS ONE OF THEM RESPONDED TO THE CALL WITH THIS: "WE ARE HOLY MEN, WE ARE DEVOTED TO GOD, AND WE NEVER DO ANYTHING FOR ANYONE!" -- Source Unknown

And now the problem with most people's concept of "holiness" ... they think it is some state of spiritual depth that makes them more spiritual than others, or that it is some negative constrictive lifestyle that is boring and uninteresting. In reality however, holiness in the Bible is an ACTION concept! Holiness is not just what we DON'T DO; it is very much what we POSITIVELY DO!

Holiness in the Bible is almost always connected with actual lifestyles, not just with some state of mind. It is very powerful, and very practical, and very positive!

The basic concept of holiness in the Bible is that of "separation," a separation from sin, and a separation to God!

PROP. SENT: The Bible teaches us that "without holiness, no man shall see God!" (Heb. 12:14). Holiness therefore is an absolute necessity as a discipline for the believer!

I. HOLINESS: ACTIVE, NOT PASSIVE! I Pet. 1:13-16

A. Preparation 1:13-14
1. Peter here describes the holy life as one who prepares his mind fo ...

There are 14157 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.

SermonSearch.com is an online resource for sermon outlines and preaching ideas. We offer 30,000+ sermon outlines and 10,000+ free sermon illustrations from top Christian pastors and communicators. You'll write powerful and fresh sermons every week with our sermon preparation tools on a number of sermon topics, including expository preaching.